Table Of ContentASIAN HIGHLANDS
PERSPECTIVES
VOLUME 1
Edited by
Charles Kevin Stuart
Gerald Roche
Tshe dbang rdo rje 3|-+0$-L}-I{(cid:1)才项多杰
2009
ISSN: 1835-7741
Library of Congress Control Number: 2008944256
© 2009
Published by Asian Highlands Perspectives/ Lulu.com
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be
reproduced, translated, stored in a retrieval system, or
transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic,
mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without
express prior written permission from the publisher.
FFFFrrrroooonnnntttt CCCCoooovvvveeeerrrr:::: Photo by Gangs lha. Prayer wheels being
turned. Dzamthang County, Rnga ba Tibetan and Qiang 羌
Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan 四川 Province.
BBBBaaaacccckkkk CCCCoooovvvveeeerrrr:::: Photo by Wen Xiangcheng 文 祥 呈 .
Shaguojiang 杀 虢 将 'Tiger Slaying General' dance
performed during the annual Nadun festival. Longbu 龙卜
Village, Qianhe 前河 Township, Minhe 民和 Hui 回and Tu
土 Autonomous County, Qinghai 青海 Province.
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Asian Highlands Perspectives welcomes submissions that
allow us to better hear and understand voices from the
highlands of Asia relating their experiences—what they
mean and how they are understood—all with a view to
enriching our knowledge of this vast area. We hope to
feature autobiographical accounts and studies of songs,
jokes, tongue twisters, weddings, divorce, funerals, 'dirty'
stories and songs, love songs, rituals of romance, illness,
medicine, healing, clothing, music, rites of passage, orations,
gender, herding techniques, agricultural practices, trading,
flora and fauna, the annual cycle of work in rural
communities, 'development', language, religion, conflict,
architecture, education, apprenticeships, art, and everything
else that informs us.
Prospective authors are welcome to use theory to
interpret what they report, however, the editors are
particularly interested in careful, detailed, contextualized
descriptions revealing local meanings of what is being
described, and how this connects with relevant publications.
While anyone may make submissions, it is especially hoped
that local scholars who lack access to educational systems
emphasizing theory and analysis will contribute. All
submissions are peer reviewed. Published authors will
receive PDF versions of their published work.
Charles Kevin Stuart, Gerald Roche, and Tshe dbang rdo rje
EEEEddddiiiittttoooorrrrssss
Charles Kevin Stuart
Gerald Roche
Tshe dbang rdo rje
CCCCooooppppyyyyeeeeddddiiiittttoooorrrrssss
Tim Thurston
Wen Xiangcheng
EEEEddddiiiittttoooorrrriiiiaaaallll BBBBooooaaaarrrrdddd
Andrew T Smith Arizona State University
Barbara Brower Portland State University
Bill Bleisch China Exploration & Research Society
Charlene Makley Reed College
Daniel Berounsky Charles University
Daniel Miller US AID
Emily Yeh University of Colorado
Fernanda Pirie University of Oxford
Geoffrey Samuel Cardiff University
Gray Tuttle Columbia University
Hildegard Diemberger University of Cambridge
Huadanzhaxi Humboldt University
Jermay Jamsu Georgetown University
Juha Janhunen University of Helsinki
Katherine Morton Australian National University
Keith Dede Lewis and Clark College
Keith Slater SIL International, East Asia Group
Mark Bender The Ohio State University
Nicolas Sihlé University of Virginia
Paul K Nietupski John Carroll University
Sarah E Fraser Northwestern University
Toni Huber Humbolt University
Veronika Zikmundova Charles University
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From the Editors
Charles Kevin Stuart, Gerald Roche, and Tshe dbang rdo rje .....3
AAAArrrrttttiiiicccclllleeeessss
Amdo Tibetan Tongue Twisters
Blo rtan rdo rje, Charles Kevin Stuart, and Gerald Roche……....7
An Amdo Tibetan Village New Year Trance Medium Ritual
Dpal ldan bkra shis and Charles Kevin Stuart …..…...........…53
Calling Back the Lost na53 mʑi53 Tibetan Soul
Libu Lakhi, Charles Kevin Stuart, and Gerald Roche ..…........65
Dying Hunters, Poison Plants, and Mute Slaves: Nature and
Tradition in Contemporary Nuosu Yi Poetry
Mark Bender........................................................................117
The Ĕrsū Shābā Pictographic Writing System
Sūn Hóngkāi [translated by Mtsho mo skyid and Gerald Roche
with an introduction by Thomas Roche and Gerald
Roche] ………............……………………........……..…..159
The Fourth Belmang: Bodhisattva, Estate Lord, Tibetan
Militia Leader, and Chinese Government Official
Paul K Nietupski …………….….…….….…….…………187
The Horse With Two Saddles: Tamxhwe in Modern Golok
Fernanda Pirie ….……………………………..…………..213
Seating, Money, and Food at an Amdo Village Funeral
Rin chen rdo rje and Charles Kevin Stuart ..….….….…..….237
The Seng ze Village Ma Ni
Dkon mchog dge legs and Charles Kevin Stuart ……..….….295
Tibetan Life and Tibetological Discourse: Differences and
Recommendations
Gerald Roche, Nag tshang grub rgyal, and Mtsho mo skyid…313
A Response to Ways and the Syntax of Noun Phrases in
Qīnghăi Chinese Dialects
Keith Dede .……..….….….…..……..…..….….…………331
PPPPhhhhoooottttoooo EEEEssssssssaaaayyyy
Lazi (Lab rtse) Construction in Karmatang (Skar ma thang)
Village
Tshe mdo ………………..……..….…….………………..349
RRRReeeevvvviiiieeeewwww
Wutun. By J Janhunen, M Peltomaa, E Sandman, and
Xiawudongzhuo.
Keith Slater ….….….……..………...….…..….….….…...367
SSSSttttoooorrrryyyy
God-door
Tshe dpag rnam rgyal ………….….….….…..….….….….373
Asian Highlands Perspectives. 1 (2009), 7-51.
AMDO TIBETAN TONGUE TWISTERS
Blo rtan rdo rje (University of Oslo), Charles Kevin Stuart
(Independent Scholar), and Gerald Roche (Griffith
University/ Qinghai Normal University)
ABSTRACT
Tibetan tongue twisters are a distinctive and significant part
of Tibetan oral folk literature. They are made up of words
and phrases related to what people see and experience in
daily life. These words are strung together and are difficult
to articulate rapidly and fluently, often because of a
succession of questions and/ or similar consonantal sounds.
This article sheds light on this poorly studied, vanishing,
aspect of Tibetan tradition by focusing on tongue twisters
that were once popular in Pha bzhi (Hayu 哈玉), a
subdivision of Skya rgya (Jiajia 贾加) Administrative
Village, Skya rgya Township, Gcan tsha (Jianzha 尖扎)
County, Rma lho (Huangnan 黄南) Tibetan Autonomous
Prefecture, Mtsho sngon (Qinghai 青海) Province, PR
China.
KEY WORDS
Tibetan tongue twisters, Tibetan language, oral tradition,
Pha bzhi
7
Asian Highlands Perspectives. 1 (2009), 7-51.
INTRODUCTION
Tibetan tongue twisters as a living, generationally
transmitted tradition, are on the verge of extinction. The
common use of tongue twisters among many ordinary
Tibetans swiftly declined in the 1980s as China's rapid
modernization began powerfully affecting rural Tibetan
areas in the form of household ownership of televisions,
radios, and VCD/ DVD machines. Subsequently, these
unique folklore forms that had been passed down through
many generations and expressed in very specific, local
forms lost their allure in just a decade and now have either
vanished, or soon will, in most Tibetan areas of China.
An internet Google search done 18 May 2007 for
'Tibetan tongue twister' obtained three hits, all of which
alluded to the same phrase—'Tibetan tongue twister'—to
mean irrelevant and obscure information.1 While this search
was done in English, we were unable to find a single
example of a published Tibetan tongue twister. Sa gong
dbang 'dus (2003), Gzungs 'bum thar (2004), Rgyang 'khor
tshe phun (2004), Sgang rgyal mtshan tshe ring (2002), and
Zla ba tshe ring and Bstan 'dzin rnam rgyal (2004) are
works providing examples and discussion of scores of folk
traditions, but do not mention Tibetan tongue twisters.
1 ''Eager to impress, I decided to try and master a few
Swedish phrases before departing for the northern city of
Umeå (which I pronounced you-me-a). However, a quick
search of the high street book stores produced nothing.
''If I had wanted to learn 'Business Swahili for
Beginners', or perhaps get to grips with Tibetan Tongue
Twisters, I'd have been in luck. Swedish, at least in the little
corner of England I occupied, had apparently ceased to
exist. I'd have to dig deeper.'' (http://forum.clan00.de/
archive/index.php/t-3111.html) accessed 18 May 2007.
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